Arsenal suffered a setback in their bid to finish this season inside the European places after a 1-1 draw against Fulham.
The Gunners looked like they would lose the game for much of it before a 97th-minute leveller from Eddie Nketiah helped them close out the encounter with a share of the spoils. Here is our player rating:
Arsenal player ratings
Mat Ryan – 6
Couldn’t stop the penalty, played a part in the equaliser and never really had that much to do.
Hector Bellerin – 4
Spending time on the bench didn’t motivate him to do better and he might not start again for the rest of this season considering how much better Calum Chambers is when he plays.
Rob Holding – 6
He looks the most mature of Arsenal’s defenders and plays with so much confidence and composure.
Gabriel – 4
His first season at Arsenal looks to be going from good to bad. He should have been cleverer in avoiding the foul for the penalty.
Granit Xhaka – 5
We have enjoyed him as a left-back before this game, but he had a torrid time today and should probably return to midfield now.
Dani Ceballos – 6
Was a bright spark in the Arsenal team with some nice flicks and tricks to open things up. He, however, needs to pick a pass faster.
Mohamed Elneny – 5
I expected him to give us no reason to miss Thomas Partey, he couldn’t and showed he is far inferior to the Ghanaian in this game.
Bukayo Saka – 7
Fulham tackled him well and did their best to limit the damage he could do, but he was still the most likely to make something happen for Arsenal.
Emile Smith Rowe – 6
He was a victim of some close marking from Fulham, but he still found spaces to dance around, it just wasn’t enough today.
Gabriel Martinelli – 6
He was full of running and initiative, but couldn’t make something happen. If he wants to remain in the team, he has to deliver against this calibre of opponent.
Alexandre Lacazette – 6
You feel that Arsenal might have won if he finished the game, hopefully, he won’t be out for long with a serious injury.
Substitutes:
Thomas Partey – 5
Brought more into the game when he came on, but he didn’t achieve the desired result.
Nicolas Pepe – 5
Almost got on the scoresheet as soon as he came on, but he soon joined his labouring teammates to find a way to beat the Cottagers.
Eddie Nketiah – 6
Scored the late goal that saved the day and he could get more chances now that Lacazette appears to be injured.
Arsenal player ratings from Ime
Very odd ratings IMO ,but I cannot even be bothered to explain why after watching that horrendous football game .
At home to Fulham as well ,now let’s see the excuses roll out .
Number one excuse we will be better in 5 years time if we stick with arteta because there are signs of improvement (despite early cup exits dropping to mid table and the worst football in decades) and a weird belief that smith Rowe is the next Kevin de bruyne … another Sunday without MOTD I guess!!!
We will be reviewing Arsenal v Stockport County of Arteta is still in charge in five years.
Wow…. Amazing, during the past winnings we’ve had. I patiently waited for player ratings and we never got any.
Even last week after qualifying for Europa semi final, but each time we drop points y’all rush into making ratings to critiy players.
When last did we get player ratings on this site after a win or after a good win?
Bunch of negative souls.. whenever it’s time to criticize, you waste no time in making ratings so we can criticize and attack players
But Eddie, the league is almost finished and look where we are in the table. Look at the squad Arteta has. Dont you think they can do better. Do you know that when Chelsea sacked Lampard, we were on the same points as Chelsea?
I get you bruv, I understand you but
Do you know that Chelsea spent 200M in bringing quality players we were dreaming of and the quality of their squad is way more higher than ours?
Of cus we should be higher based on quality too, but everyone’s gotta take the blame, not blaming the manager everyday like he’s the one who keeps asking these bunch of professionals to keep making basic and stupid errors.
“The manager is at fault because he’s not coaching the errors out”
Oh if as a professional player, a manager is meant to start teaching you the basic stuffsuch as when to pass, or when to hoof the ball in the air, or when to stretch your legs in the box like Gabi did today, then should you even be playing football at all??
Btw, I took my mind off the league. I never expected anything from this season. Of cus I had my own wishes and yearnings but I had no high expectations because I already knew months ago that this year will clearly be a learning curve for our rookie manager.
Hey I got two options then, accept the fact that this year will be messy and be at peace with it while supporting the manat and his players
Or
Refuse to accept it’s a year for the manager to learn and expect him to pull a Zidane with our squad or expect him to deliver like experience coaches do while moaning every week about his learning curve.
Brother, I chose the one that gave m peace of mind.
He’s had this year as his learning curve year, but next season? My expectations will show up
It is understandable when you say that you didn’t have expectations because of a rookie manager who is learning his trade (though the club of Arsenal size and status to let a person learn his trade when they are supposed to be fighting to get back on top defies all logic). I don’t know if you gave similar reason at the start of the season or this has become a new narration so I will give you that.
It is when some keep telling us they are seeing progress and make up facts to defend the indefensible that some will have issues with.
Like someone who said Arteta has best tactics ever seen and that the great Arsene the master of the invincibles, the record holder of most consecutive clean sheets in champions league history is learning tactics from Arteta.
Arteta started with Elneny & Caba in central midfield – as poor a combination you could find in the PL. He plays Xhaka at left full (after getting lucky with his selection on Thurs) leaving us without an attacking option to support Martinelli on the left.
He changes the back four every week leading to a lack of understanding and confidence.
He seems happy to watch the back four play a dozen passes between them to reach the half-way line against a low press before Holding attempts to pick a decisive pass with the inevitable result.
Arteta seems to be trying to copy Pep’s playbook with a mid-table quality squad.
Sad to watch our decline and some of the worst football we have played in an age.
Talking about martinelli….which other support did he need? He got all the support but he was not clinical enough. Running does not cut it. He should have scored 3 goals today. I see why hes always on bench. Its just the fact.
I understand you Eddie. I get your point. A positive mindset. I just wish we win the europa league. Let us look forward to next season.
Based on their performance today and this season in general, why shouldn’t the players be criticized? If and when they perform well aren’t they praised?
If they win the EL they along with the manager will be praised highly. I think even reaching the semi finals deserve praise for the manager and the players (even though it still not enough to save Arteta job because of the horrendous performance in the league).
There will be no praise for finishing 10th.
Okay then when was the last time this site did any player ratings after we won a game?
I’m not talking about us fans criticising or crediting players. We’ve been criticizing this team all year, so don’t try to put it like it’s not something we’ve been doing.
I’m talking about this blog itself, quick to write and dish out articles that’ll only support criticism or attacks on the manager, but hardly singing praises when the team deserves it.
Nobody’s glad we’re 10th by the way
I don’t know about the player ratings articles if they are exclusive to one writer or admins. If it is not exclusive one can take up the task of providing one when we win.
Maybe the site owners will answer your query.
I believe 4 writers do the ratings .
1.All I saw Ceballos did today was dancing to the left and to the right. He was in awe of how good he was in dribbling shadows.
2.We need our forward players to be ruthless.
3.VAR is a scam. I have seen a lot of VAR inconsistencies in the premier league to last me a lifetime.
4.We are an inconsistent team. The table doesn’t lie.
Results don’t lie Emery was sacked for better results which shows Arsenal are inconsistent
👍 You never know whether Arsenal will turn up at any particularly game. Just a few minutes from losing to Fulham at home (either Highbury or Emirates); a n other record Arteta and the Club shouldn’t want to break. Arsenal in the past has played far superior Fulham sides to this one, about to relegated.
Massive inconsistencies in team
Massive inconsistencies in results
1+1 = 2
For everyone here that praises MA when we win but refuses to criticise him when we lose that’s very hypocritical.
If I may ask what is the role of a manger? Because it seems like persistent issues aren’t his fault or responsibility according to some of you. So whatshis purposes and role?
Our best front four started, but Martinelli is still rusty and Saka seemed too tired to start. Losing Lacazette will be a big blow to us, so hopefully he’s okay
@Gotanidea- honestly mate, you are such a decent guy. I mean that. You always look for a positive in every negative. I don’t always Agee with your thoughts, but I totally respect you and your support of this Football Club.
Thanks Phil. It was apparent that our players tried to avoid injuries and Fulham wanted it more
We probably wouldn’t bounce back in the next EPL game, but the players will surely be more motivated in EL semifinal
Good result to cement our position in the top 9-12th.
I think if a manager fares worse on his first season than during his half tenure, its safe to say he’s not up for it.
Just look at Chelsea with Lampard vs Tuchel. FA cup final, UCL semi-final and took Chelsea from 8th to top 4.
I know some will comment “but but they spent 200m last summer”. Yes and with Lampard they plunged to 8th.
Thank you, fair analysis
Arsenal were shocking a complete embarrassment sums up where we are as a club we are going nowhere under this manager he is so out of his depth please just sack him! Arteta Out!!
Tinkerman strikes again. Can’t help himself with cutting and chopping the lineup again. Aside from Tierney, no need for all the changes.
Feels like a loss; more dropped points to minnows.
Trust the process🐂💩
Forget all the gripes at each other and everything OUR LEAGUE FORM IS DIRE.
Bad result. Nearly lost to a relegation team
Lost for words because I felt it my heart that we’d win
Arsenal ain’t ever gonn change. The prob is with the urgency to score a goal. Compare when we were 0-0 and when we were a goal behind. The mentality should be to score enough goal as possible considering the dangerous line of attack that we brought on. Full Consciousness at the start of any game is very important.
The league is irrelevant at this point. All eggs in the Europa basket. And the bad thing about that is that it is totally possible we replicate today’s performance against Villarreal.
Nothing surprises me anymore!! This result epitomises our season – horrible!
On cloud 9 one minute, the depths of despair the next!!
Shame about Laca – hurry back Auba 🙏
All this talk about a super league and we can’t even beat Fulham 😄
Well done to our women – 10-0!!!
Well,the moment I saw Elneny, Gabriel and Bellerin starting I knew it would be tough and we would concede.
As usual Arteta gets the blame for protecting Partey who has had an injury-ravaged season, Chambers who have had a long lay off and has played two games on the spin, same with Mari, I knew we would struggle but the manager made the right decision. If he had started Willian, there would still be complaints, please criticise objectively.
If Auba was okay, I am sure Laca would have been rested and probably could have avoided the injury he sustained today.
I have always said Elneny is not even good enough as a squad player, I hope we can get something for him this summer
Lastly, because we are Arsenal does not mean we have the right to always win, everyone knows it is difficult to play a team fighting for survival and this same team beat Liverpool at Anfield and drew at Craven Cottage we were also very unlucky today,the draw is fair IMO
I agree Arteta was right to rest some players for this game. If he wasn’t going to rest Xhaka though, play him in midfield. Ceballos/Elneny midfield to us fans is a sign he doesn’t want to win a game, or is willing to throw a game away. Cedric was more than capable of playing LB today.
RSH,
If you wanna be sincere, if Cedric played today and he fumbles a pass that leads to a goal, you know Arteta would be blamed for not playing Xhaka there since he has been doing well right? That’s how harsh some of our fans are. Cedric is an accident waiting to happen there and EVERYONE knows this.
We never give credit to ANY opposition when they do well but when we win, some find ways to still discredit the win. Every game is a fight in this league.
I am so afraid, Gabriel is a bad defender (I am dying to be wrong)
Can anyone tell me what is Elneny’s best qualities?
See, we need to “litter” this team with creative midfielders,that’s all we need!
If we, for example, give Arteta Buendia, Aouar, and Bissoma (we need all three, I don’t care about ESR)and he is still not consistent next season,SACK him before December.
Or you think a manager like Klopp, Pep, or even Rodgers would do well with this bunch of midfielders? I am tired of saying this already, we are not good enough!
People are mentioning Chelsea as if all their midfielders won’t walk into our eleven, Kovacic and Kante alone would make a huge difference
Midfield bullied by Fulham FFS!
People criticize Lacazette, yet who missed all the chances today. Yes the Fulham goalkeeper had an excellent game, (did his job in the team) but he doesn’t fill the whole goal mouth!
Exactly… He shouldn’t have changed the team he shouldn’t have changed the team, Chambers played how many games straight up? Mari played twice last week.. Partey who’s recoverd from Injury played twice and gets protected.
But then again it’s the manager’s fault the likes of Gabriel, Bellerin, Elneny decjded it’s a good day to have a stinker.
Do I even need to mention comments bout how our best attack is Saka-ESR-Martinelli with Laca up front?
That started today ain’t it? Or it was Nketiah and Willian who started.
Inconsistency is the teami problem and we lack quality depth. We all know this, this should just be done with let’s know what next please
We lack squad depth. There’s no way the first XI players can play week in week out. The likes of Gabriel, Elneny, Bellerin stepped in and performed very poorly.
13 shots to 1 (a penalty). A very frustrating game for so many reasons.
Sean M
Thanks for being objective! I honestly didn’t expect to see Saka and ESR start but Ødegaard is injured and Pepe is not consistent, if Tierney was fit, it would have been Xhaka-Elneny which would be manageable, we are so gonna miss Lacazette mahn!
Such a frustrating season. Cant seem to build any momentum. Fulham was never going to be an easy game and I’m sure they will win a few more this season but our lack of urgency was disappointing.
On topic, not sure how Xhaka deserves a 5. He is playing out of position and played his heart out, winning most 50/50 battles he engaged in. Thought he and Martinelli were the loan bright spots tbh.
One whinge, that for me was never a penalty. But accept that once ref makes the call it’s not going to be overruled because it wasnt a clear and obvious error. Of course, a 2 mm toe offside in the build up to a goal is “clear and obvious”. VAR, whilst the same for everyone, is a joke.
Thank you….. I got confused when the penalty was awarded..
Anyone else here notice how ESR spent the whole game near the RW by Saka. He was nowhere near the middle of the park and miles from Gabi.the whole in the middle was vacant for most of the game.
Martinelli was completely isolated, very little support from ESR or Xhaka(no im not attcking Xhaka for his oversensitive fan boys)
Sorry very very OT but what a goal MU just scored!
Even as a Gooner, I appreciate skill.
Oh, and what an equaliser from Burnley😊
Extremely harsh ratings (and comments) in my opinion!
“Xhaka had a torrid time” !? @Ime…..Are you having a giraffe?
Sensible words Eddie. Martnelli could have had two goals in the opening 10 mins, one created by Laca, the second by ESR.These are facts not perceptions yet they do not appear to be recognized by the so predictable anti Arteta brigade.
Predictable, yes but probably the results have been Predictable and our mid table position is unacceptable. I see no excuse for Arteta in the league over the season. Do you honestly think we are over achieving or under achieving. Most people are Arsenal fans and only moan about Arteta because he is getting nothing out of this squad of players. Blame Arteta or blame the players, they are both in the same pot and are both failing in the league. If he was getting anywhere near what he should out of them, a lot less would complain.
Eh @Grandad- are you suggesting that performance was acceptable? And that Arteta is being singled out unfairly? Another inconsistent showing from a team that is having pundits like Roy Keane, who tells it as he sees it no matter WHAT TEAM is playing?
I. Would welcome your comments if you feel Arteta deserves anything other than the negative comments he is receiving. From this site.
👍
Tell them…….he had 3 goal scoring chances. Martinelli is a good player fine. But when it comes to quality is not there yet. Only few of our players can be in starting XI of bigger clubs
If it wasn’t for that equaliser in the 7th minute of time added on, we would have had our worst home defeats for (I believe) nearly 100 years…. and yet TMJW and Jon Fox are telling us that our defence has improved since AW and UE left 😂😂😂
Fulham have never beaten us at home in the PL and were so close to doing just that…. but our defence is improving, so we should all be thankful for perceived improvements🤔🤔🤔
VAR was correct with every call and if the decisions had been made for us, no one would be complaining – in fact we would all be saying how valuable VAR is 👍👍👍
So now, we have to decide… was it the players fault or the manager?
According to some, it will ALL go back to the players that AW and UE left… or even the two ex managers themselves, so let the blame game begin.
I’m just tired and weary of the whole charade and of also watching the complete dross that “performed” TODAY under the pretext of The Arsenal Football Club.
Agree with you ken again, words of facts and truth, not blind faith or distorted dreams. Stick to facts and our season is a big disappointment so far.
I don’t get the VAR complaints today either. Spot on with every call today, pen was a pen too. It was the first game VAR did not frustrate me because the only way to complain about the decisions is the flat out deny what was obvious to any neutral.
RSH, im not sure it was a penalty but it wasn’t clear and obvious so once the ref gave it, it cant be changed. But Var was correct today, even if it is not liked.
TBF that last goal could have been scrubbed off as well so today VAR wasn’t against us for a change .
We shouldn’t be talking about VAR anyway we should be talking about why we are terrible to watch and lay 10th in the league ,but I’m sure the excuse makers will use VAR as one of their many cringe excuses as to why we couldn’t beat a pretty much relegated team .
The football under Emery was Terrible and this is now on par with that crap we was forced to watch ,honestly don’t know how we have fallen so far away from the top teams .
These player are good enough for top 4 and my mind won’t change on that so how we are in 10th really shows something is not working .
Agree Dan.
👍 👍
Don’t forget we came back from Prague on Friday.
Still no excuse for that display.
Sad to say but Hector is finished.
Who remembers that young marauding player.
Runs now and passes back.
Let’s thank him and let him go
👍 Bellerin’s transfer value drops every time he plays.
Arsenal should be ashamed of themselves signing up for this European super league as it’s all about money just pure greed we are not even worthy of a place in this league if this happens I can honestly say will never watch another Arsenal game ever again total discrace and hope the plans fail as the prem league is still the best and most exciting in the world!!
I don’t look forward to the embarrassing floggings.
Goodbye Danny.
Move on
The team is playing so badly it’s embarrassing. How does Arteta not have a first eleven after 1 and half seasons in charge. Xhaka in midfield is a disaster as he is not good at attacking and is very immobile. Why not play Cedric there. Why de he loan out Kolasinac and Niles leaving the team without another option for the left back position. Chambers and Mari haven’t played a lot this season so why rest them. Don’t we have any good left back on the junior teams. There is so much competition now with more better funded and managed teams. Arteta must improve the team or must go.
Chaka didn’t play in midfield today.
A lot of attacks are started from Xhaka at the back.
He has also made most tackles and ball retrievals for this season.
But then again, he’s not very good is he?🤔
Joel Lopez.
Warching a different game to most of you today. Every ref or VAR decision went against us. They had 1 shot 1 goal. We were not good but we werent atrocious. Elneny tried to be Partey and couldn’t come close. Bellerin was embarassing to watch – between them they upset the whole balance of the team. We looked tired. – Thusdays effort took a lot out of has. It was a “must win” for them and a “would be nice to win” for us, and it showed. Xhaka played well with the exception of never overlapping for Martinelli. Saka not great but stranded by Bellerin. Ceballos wasted by having to hang back to help Elneny. No triangles too many players isolated due to Elneny and Bellerin not doing thrie jobs. Victims of lack of squad depth to freshen us up. No blame from me for MA we could have won by 5.
Yes, i saw a different game.
I agree with most of your observations Guy…in this game of inches, especially for a team struggling for consistency, any little tweaks can have negatively impact a result
I don’t have any issue with the Gab switch, as I both see him as our future starting CB and considering the fact that Mari could have easily caused the same penalty as he’s known for putting a foot in late
the real issues stem from the selections of both Elneny and Bellerin…it’s one thing to have the sideways passing of Xhaka in the pivot or LB, but when you add 2 more players with below average passing skills to the mix, then have Ceballos playing in no man’s land to provide a little protection for Elneny, you greatly impact the flow and directness of attack potential…it simply made no sense, as now both Ceballos and Elneny were caught in a lot of 1 v. 2 scenarios
furthermore, Bellerin isn’t good enough to consume such a significant role in the offensive scheme, as he’s one of the worst for sewering guys with late passing when defenders are bearing down…likewise, he’s presence means that Saka gets tucked inside into tighter quarters far too often, which simply wasn’t the case with Chambers because he doesn’t enter the fray constantly
finally, we lose a considerable chunk of our presence in the middle of the park when you have a deeper sitting, sideways passing Elneny playing along side of Ceballos. who wasn’t given the same luxury of roaming a bit, which was the key to our previous two victories…as I’ve spoken about many times before, Partey is crucial because he wants to play more direct balls, unfortunately he’s been caught on the ball a few too many times this year because of our glaring lack of bodies in more centralized areas of the pitch
I think the best adjustment would have been to put Marts up top when Laca went out, then adopted the same tactics as the last two games, with Pepe on the right side, 3 at the back, Partey in the hole and Ceballos and ESR in the middle of the park, farther up the pitch
I can only guess that the bitterness of almost losing clouds most people’s judgement. I (genuinely) couldn’t have said it better myself.
Lol..
Clean sheet gone since Mari didn’t play.
Gabriel is so rash, hopefully he matures with age and experience.
Bellerin is as useless as the letter P in Psychology.
Elneny the snail.
Wow.. this team
Laca out injured.. just play a front three of Pepe Martinelli Saka
With Smith Rowe behind them.
Xhaka just 5? Maybe you watched another match.
Granit Xhaka vs Fulham:
122 Touches
97/103 Passes completed (94%)
5/5 Ground Duels Won
4/5 Aerial Duels Won
1/2 Crosses completed
5/5 Long balls completed
4 tackles completed.
Jon Fox and I talked about this bias ratings earlier. You need to stop giving ratings based on emotions. By the way I am an Arteta critic but why haven’t we had ratings all these while the team has been doing well? Why only when the team performs poorly. Back to Xhaka, now if that performance only merits a 5 then I guess only God then can achieve a 7.
Well said Chapo, but I think JF was the wrong name to quote as an endorsement. Jon is known to be also profoundly anti-Xhaka (dare I say “biased”) and would have probably have given him a mark of 1 even if he scored a hattrick, saved a penalty and rescued a naked lady from a burning building at half time!
GUY, couldn’t help but laugh when I read you comment 😂.
👍
Xhaka so wrongly berated.
Gives his all for our club.
2 bad tackles by Fulham against him but up the man gets.
Totally agree Neath. Whatever he does its never good enough for these irrationals. I’ have so much respect for him.
So, Arteta is at fault because he cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. I will say again, the majority of the current Arsenal squad are average, middle of the table players. The League position does not lie!! Why do none of you so called fans get on EDU and the money men who put this squad together. A truism of life is “You get what you pay for”, and boy is that the case with Arsenal at the moment. On any given day the team can raise it’s game, but the match against Fulham shows who this Arsenal team really are. We might yet beat Villarreal, and possibly even Manchester United to win the UEL, but I for one hope we do not, because I don’t think I could stand the embarrassment of watching us in the UCL!
Phil, first of all I could not give a toss for words uttered by Roy Keane who was a total failure as a Manager and will be remembered by me as the only professional player who has openly admitted to setting out to break an opponents leg.Basically he was a thug.As to Arsenal, we have been over the pros and cons for keeping or sacking Arteta on so many occasions its become a complete bore to me.You have your opinion and I have mine and we will never agree.I think Fulham had 9 days uninterrupted preparation for the match yesterday whereas we had one full day after the good win against Slavia.That is in itself no excuse for the poor result against Fulham who enjoyed some good fortune during the match .In the absence of Tierney , Partey and Odegaard we were mediocre , particularly at RB and central midfield which once again highlighted the lack of quality and depth of our squad.I am expecting a significant improvement next season on the assumption that more deadwood will be replaced by upgrades of quality such as Bissouma..If we do not improve materially Phil , you can be assured that I will turn my attention to the performance of the Manager in addition to the players.I fully recognise the buck stops with the team Manager and that will always be the case.Finally I hope you are still enjoying your digestive biscuits which are among my favourites.At least we have something in common!